1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a conveyer apparatus and, more particularly, to a new type of conveyer apparatus for discharging chips that enables cutting chips entering into the inner space of a conveyer unit to be discharged into the outer space of the conveyer unit, thereby preventing a filtering drum provided in the inner space of the conveyer unit from being damaged by the cutting chips.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, conveyer apparatuses for discharging chips are provided in various machine tools (for example, lathes, drilling machines, milling machines, machining centers, etc.), and extract cutting chips from the cutting chips and cutting oil generated when a workpiece is machined by a corresponding machine tool and separately discharge them. These conveyer apparatuses for discharging chips enable cutting oil to be reused.
The conveyer apparatuses for discharging chips transfer cutting chips discharged from the machine tool using a conveyer commonly installed in the form of a caterpillar so that the cutting chips can be collected in a separate chip collection box. During this process, the cutting oil included in the cutting chips can be stored in a cutting oil tank, above which the corresponding conveyer passes, via the gaps of the conveyer.
Technologies related to the above-described conveyer apparatuses are disclosed in various documents, including Korean Patent No. 10-0321360, Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0188002, Korean Patent No. 10-0428464, Korean Patent No. 10-0907054, Korean Patent No. 10-1179924, etc.
In particular, conventionally, a filtering drum configured to filter out fine impurities (fine cutting chips) from cutting oil within a cutting oil tank is additionally provided. This filtering drum enables cutting oil to be substantially reused.
However, the filtering drum is problematic in that its filter may be damaged because when the filtering drum is simply installed within the cutting oil tank, it is exposed to cutting chips discharged via a conveyer. Accordingly, Korean Patent No. 10-0321360 discloses a technology in which a filtering drum is located inside a conveyer and is thus protected from the influence of cutting chips.
However, the above conventional technology configured as described above still causes a concern about fine cutting chips infiltrating into a portion where the filtering drum is located, i.e., the inside of a portion through which the corresponding conveyer passes, via various gaps of the conveyer. Cutting chips infiltrating into the inner side of the conveyer cannot be easily discharged, and thus they are unavoidably stacked on the inner portion of the conveyer. Accordingly, concerns about the clogging of the meshes of the filter of the filtering drum and damage thereto still remain.
Therefore, an operator suffers from inconvenience in which he or she must continuously clean the inner portion of the conveyer of the conveyer apparatus for discharging chips. In particular, to clean the inner portion of the conveyer, the conveyer must be disassembled, and problems arise in that the disassembly work is very complicated and a long period of time is required.